I have a new picture book coming out 24 June. It would have been on shelves sooner, but my shark got held up in the Suez Canal blockage! 1, 2, 3 Do The Shark is published by Farshore and illustrated by Rosalind Beardshaw. Her undersea scenes are gorgeous and her characters are adorable! If you enjoyed 1 ,2, 3 Do The Dinosaur, you're in for a treat! I suppose I ought to invest in a shark onesie ... but maybe only if it doesn't require international shipping.

It's available to pre-order from all the usual places, I highly recommend asking a local independent book store to bagsy you a copy - The Rocketship Bookshop in Salisbury can definitely sort you out.

This is an amazing bit of news to be able to share. An animated version of The World Made a Rainbow will be available to watch from 3.30pm today, read by David Tennant!

Thanks to everyone who has bought and shared THE WORLD MADE A RAINBOW. It's been absolutely wonderful to receive your messages and see all the incredible ways you've been using the book in schools and nurseries. Just a few of your images are shown above, but I've honestly been inundated.

The book has been helping children talk about their feelings during the strange and unsettling times we're living through. I know from your messages that it's been helping adults, too. It's raised £25k for Save The Children so far, and I couldn't be more proud. Thanks to David Tennant for lending the story his gorgeous voice, and well done to the whole team behind the book and the animation. This is a proud day for us all, and it's so great that the story will now be accessible in another way.

David Tennant’s reading can be viewed here from 3.30 p.m. this afternoon UK time (Monday March 15th 2021). 

Here's a video for World Book Day and beyond. I answer the five questions I am most frequently asked during my school visits. I hope you find it helpful. Teachers: if your class has extra questions, you can always email them to me; I promise I'll reply. Enjoy World Book Day. I'm sure this year it will feel extra special knowing that, in just a few days, everyone will be back in school together. At last!

Join me and illustrator Tom Knight for some free half term fun, live online on Wednesday 17th February at 11am (UK). It's free to watch, bagsy your space and watch live on the day by following this link: ​crowdcast.io/e/when-jelly-had-a-wobble/register

Happy New Year to you all! Thank goodness for a fresh one, eh? I'm starting the New Year with the usual health kick, but most importantly I'm including a mental health kick, too.

For me that means allowing myself time to WRITE, if I can what with the return to homeschooling. I haven't been able to get into my much needed dreamlike state at all in recent months. It's so hard to with the worries and the changes Covid has brought about.

I know from many years of experience that I'm happiest and healthiest when I find time to write regularly, So I'm taking a break from social media, taking a break from virtual visits and trying to find time to write when childcare allows. I also have a bunch of looming deadlines to deal with, so I hope you'll forgive me for being a little harder to get hold of for a while. 

World Book Day (early March) will be here before we know it. With any luck, our children might just be back in school by then, and I'll hopefully emerge refreshed, invigorated and with some new stories to share. In the meantime, if you need to get in touch, please feel free to email me using the contact page of my website.

Take care and enjoy escaping into some good books,
Michelle x

My next picture book publishes 4 Feb 2021! WHEN JELLY HAD A WOBBLE is illustrated by Tom Knight for Scholastic and is our funny, foodie follow-up to THE DAY THE BANANA WENT BAD.

It's available to pre-order in all the usual places. Why not ask your local indie bookshop to bagsy one for you, or visit my bookshop.org page.